There are quite a few differences, in terms of social and economic infrastructure, between the southern and northern parts of Chios.

The “Notiochora” (southern parts) developed – overall – as “closed” residential structures, consisting (in many cases) of houses in the shape, externally, of a semi-circle without any doors or windows, designed to protect against invaders, primarily pirates, who ravaged the islands of the Aegean from the Middle Ages until the 17th-18th century. Up until the mid-20th century, the residents were mainly involved in agricultural activities, notably the collection of mastic (the resin secreted by the indigenous mastic trees), for which Chios is known all over the world (and which continues to this day – 2007). Subsequent migration and tourist development caused certain changes in the area’s features, but age-old local traditions and customs, and especially the “old” musical idioms connected to both local practices and universal influences, survive, here and there, to this day.